At the end of September, I rather impulsively decided that F and I should sign up to do a semi-marathon. A bit of a wacky idea considering I am hardly the model jogger/runner, while F would dutifully head out once a week for a good hour or so; I’d do so about once every 2-3 weeks, not to mention I’m also more likely to do a shorter route. Honestly, I’m really not great at self-discipline when it comes to sports/fitness-related activities. Just ask C about my “standing pool date” with her…

In any case, I have time to work at training, no? Afterall, March seems so far away, even if I’ve started drawing up all kind of potential training programme etc. And the sheet of paper is now sitting right underneath a big pile of papers that I’m supposed to read for work. Training three times a week – hah, who am I kidding? Instead, time is ticking away and I still manage to weasel my way out of weekend jogging sessions with F.

Knowing I’ll need firmer hands to get me moving, F dropped a small bomb on me a couple of weeks ago. We would sign up for a 10K run, officially timed and all. The thing is, it was happening on the very same weekend. I would have no time whatsoever to train, and my last run was on, errrrm, early September? But before I could find a good excuse to get out of it, we were both registered for the Corrida du 15ème.

Looking back, that was a very good call on his part. Bu nudging me into participating, I now have a base line of my ability, and will now work towards improving it. It also served as a wake up call, that I am no longer the young chickadee who used to easily tackle a 10K run with minimal preparation. I need to start rebuilding my muscle memory and stamina if I am to complete a 21K run in just a few months time.

With the new jolt of motivation, I am now indeed doing more. Not only am I running most weekends – still no sign of following the three-times-a-week training programme though – I am also gradually increasing the distance I run, from one week to another. My main concern now is mostly weather-related; I hope it will not be too cold over the winter whenever I’m out, pounding the pavements and garden paths. We will do another couple more timed 10K runs before the semi-marathon to gauge our running speed, and ideally should eventually extend our weekend runs to targeted distance.

Should all go well, then I will definitely try my damnedest to grab a spot in the 2016 Paris Marathon. (Maybe I need a sanity check too… /whistles)

Ps: in case you’re wondering, I completed the timed 10K in 68 minutes, thus averaging 8.8km/h, a relatively poor performance compared to the 9.5-10km/h I used to do. F waiting for nearly 15 minutes for me to get through the finishing line.